Germany added another feather to their cap. They won an eighth junior hockey World Cup and showed why the German machine is unstoppable. At Chennai’s Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium after a tight 1-1 finish in regulation time, German goalkeeper Jasper Ditzer put up a brilliant show. His heroics helped his team prevail 3-2 over Spain in the tie-breaker.
It was a match worthy of a final in the true sense. It was Spain’s first-ever final appearance in this competition and they gave their opponents a run for their money. Not as big or muscular as the Germans, the Spaniards demonstrated skilful half-turns in the midfield and played those deft passes that kept their rivals guessing.
For Germany, Justus Warweg (26) and Nicholas Mustaros for Spain (32) scored in regulation time. The rest of the match, or most of it, belonged to the two goalkeepers. Both were outstanding.
The final started with the short-statured Spaniards pressing into the German half and keeping the defending champions on the back foot for the first 10 minutes. They won multiple penalty-corners as well. The Germans made a comeback and the first quarter ended goalless. Despite their superior ball control, Spain could not score and put their opponents under early pressure.
In the second quarter, Germany made inroads into the Spanish circle and earned back-to-back penalty-corners. They couldn’t convert due to some brilliant defending by Spain. In the 25th minute, Germany made a counterattack, winning the ball outside the striking circle and the ball was passed to skipper Ben Hasbach. He played it to the in-form Warweg, who slotted it home to give Germany the upper hand shortly before half-time.
The third quarter started on a right note for the Spaniards. In the early minutes, they made a comeback thanks to a brilliant goal from Mustaros. After that, both teams showed steel in defence, denying any chances to each other.
The final quarter saw desperate defending from both sides. Germany won a penalty-corner in the early minutes but Spain defended well.
In the dying seconds, Germany got a chance to breach the D, but could not capitalise. The rest of this period saw Spain try to push into the German half. Some stout defending blunted their efforts.
In the shootout, Germany’s Benedikt Geyer, Alec von Schwerin and Hasbach scored. For Spain, Pablo Roman and Juan Prado were on target. In the last chance, German goalkeeper Ditzer denied Andres Medina as his country won the title yet again.
For all updates on Indian Hockey, follow RevSportz
